And That's How It Works
by Me And My Luck
Summary: Ali knows how you get the girl. Oneshot.


_Bang!_

Emily jumped as she heard another crash of thunder from outside. She huddled deeper under the blankets she was wrapped in on her living room couch, wondering when the storm would pass. Storms didn't scare her—nothing really scared her any more, and with A always around the corner, she had seen much more terrifying things than a bit of rain, or a snake, or the dark. Sometimes Emily wondered if she'd ever be back to normal once this was all over— _if_ she survived.

 _Knock knock knock._

Emily glanced over at her front door, confused. _What the hell,_ she thought, _who would be knocking on my door during a thunderstorm?_ She briefly considered the thought that whatever was outside was A related, but figured she was in the clear for now. As she was getting up, the knocking became quicker paced. Emily walked over to the door to relieve whoever was outside from the tempest.

And there, shaking from the rain, was Alison Dilaurentis.

"Ali, are you _insane?_ It's pouring." Emily said, after a moment of shocked silence. She hadn't seen Ali since the girls got out of the dollhouse. While she liked to believe the five girls' friendship hadn't been strained by their kidnapping, she knew that she was lying to herself. This was the first time she actually got a good look at Ali in weeks. Emily gave the blonde girl a quick once over—drenched, wide eyed, and jittering. And yet she still that those beautiful blue eyes she knew and loved.

"Can I come in?" She asked, looking a bit hopeful. Emily nodded, stepping aside so the shaking girl could step out of the rain and into the house,

"Of course, let me get you a towel or something."

Emily shut the door and turned to grab Ali something dry, but before she could take a step a hand wrapped around her wrist.

"Wait," Ali pleaded, "Em…I need to talk to you. Now."

Emily paused, looking into Ali's eyes. She looked almost _desperate_ , like she was going burst if she didn't tell Emily what she wanted to right then. A million thoughts ran through her head, but she nodded slowly anyway, and waited for Ali to talk.

"It's, uh, it's been a while. Since we last saw each other. And I've been doing a lot of thinking—I'm going to therapy now, and it's brought up a lot of thoughts about things I regret—things left unsaid that I want to resolve. Things I want to fix. With _you_. Emily—please let me finish," she said, and Emily snapped her mouth shut, swallowing whatever she was going to say.

"I want you, for worse or for better. God, Emily, I love you _so damn much,_ and I know you must be absolutely pissed at me and I get it, God do I get it, but I would wait forever for you to take me back. I know I broke your heart, and I broke mine too in the process, but I can't imagine my life without you, and I need you to let me put your heart back together. I don't care if you need time, or space, or _anything_ —I will wait for as long as you want. I just needed to tell you that I love you, and I miss you, and I'm _sorry_."

Emily couldn't breathe. She must have opened her mouth and closed it a hundred times before anyone spoke.

"Please," Ali begged, "say something. Anything."

But Emily didn't say anything. Instead, grabbed her face and she surged forward to meet her lips, as warm and inviting as always. Ali froze—she definitely wasn't expecting that. But slowly she began to move her lips in sync with Emily's fitting perfectly together, just as they had since that first kiss in the library when they were kids. Her arms slowly reached down to wrap around the Brunette's waste as she deepened the kiss. She smiled lightly as Emily pulled away, pupils darkened and breath short. Emily grinned sheepishly, touching their foreheads together.

"You really know how to woo a girl, huh?"

Ali laughed, for the first time in a long time. "Only you."

"I've been waiting for you to say that forever. Ali, I _love_ you, so much. I think we need to take this slow, but…we both know nothing could keep us apart for long. I want to try this. With you."

With that, Ali kissed Emily again, softly, and smiled.

"I think I'd like that."


End file.
